Mogomotsi Moloi
7 April 2008
The Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) and Stanbic Bank Botswana signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last Friday to help the Small Micro-Medium Enterprises (SMME) in the country.
In a ceremony at LEA offices last Friday, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Tebogo Matome and Stanbic managing director Dennis Kennedy, signed what was said to be an agreement in developing a vibrant SMME sector as an integral part of the economic diversification and poverty reduction strategy in Botswana.
Matome said their marriage with Stanbic is an important achievement in their efforts to improve the SMMEs financing climate in Botswana. The agreement is meant to help facilitate SMMEs access to finance. Matome was pleased to learn that Stanbic has a Business Banking Unit that offers comprehensive service to new and growing business owners and that it has been aggressively reaching out to SMMEs by developing innovative financing tools tailored to their needs and profiles.
"Today's MoU signing is also of great significance as it shows the efforts of government and private sector collaboration in addressing the issues of SMME financing," Matome asserted. He explained that LEA sees improvements in the SMME financing climate by addressing four broad factors.
First is the government strategy to build up a wide spectrum of financing instruments to cater for the different needs of SMMEs. "Over the past 10 years, several new initiatives have been introduced to enhance existing ones such that there is now a wide array of financing tools for SMMEs," said Matome citing Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) and National Development Bank as examples.
He said the second factor in SMME financing is the private sector. He appealed to the sector to position itself as SMME partners and aggressively reach the enterprises by developing financial tools.
The third factor addressed by LEA to help SMMEs is through increasing awareness on the various forms of financing tools available for variety of business needs. "The fourth most important factor is the close partnership between the private and public sectors to enhance SMMEs access to finance," stated Matome. He challenged SMMEs to play their part in improving their chances of obtaining finance to complement the support LEA provides.
Stanbic Botswana MD, Kennedy, was equally happy that the agreement with LEA will definitely benefit the SMME community. He quoted new president Ian Khama who last week said Botswana is no longer seen as the only beacon of success if Africa. Kennedy said that they have to create an enabling environment for the private sector and to actively encourage it to become a driving force of and the main investor in Botswana.
He emphasised that there is need to change the mindset of Batswana by encouraging and helping them to develop their talents, through stimulating creativity and hard work so that they contribute to the economic development of the country.
"Our young people need jobs, ready training and education to obtain the skills business requires. They need to be equipped with the abilities and mindset to excel in their jobs and to start and grow their own enterprises," he said.
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